Blackwell

Blackwell is served by the Mobile Library on route 5, which stops at the Community Center on every fourth Thursday in the early afternoon. That same Mobile Library stops in the hamlet of Newton on that same morning.

Alternatively, the nearby Alfreton Library is an excellent resource with a Local History section and a Family History section.

• David BEVIS has a photograph of the St.Werburgh lych gate to the churchyard on Geo-graph, taken in December, 2015.
   
• Alan HEARDMAN has a photograph of Blackwell - Churchyard on Geo-graph, taken in January, 2008.
   

• The parish was in the Blackwell sub-district of the Mansfield Registration District.
   
• The table below gives census piece numbers, where known:
   

• The Anglican parish church is dedicated to Saint Werburg.
   
• The remains of an ancient Saxon cross stand in the churchyard.
   
• The church was rebuilt in 1827-28.
   
• The church was rebuilt again, with the exception of the tower, in 1879.
   
• The church seats 220.
   
• Richard CROFT has a photograph of St. Werburgh's Church on Geo-graph, taken in March, 2011.
   
• David BEVIS has a photograph of the church tower on Geo-graph, taken in June, 2015.

• The Anglican parish register dates from 1685.
   
• The church was in the rural deanery of Alfreton.
   
• Steve SPENCER has provided a pop-up window of Blackwell burials in a text file for your review. Your additions and corrections are welcomed.
   
• An Anglican mission church was built in Westhouses hamlet in 1898.
   
• The Wesleyan Methodists built a chapel here in 1875.

• Civil Registration began in July, 1837.
   
• The parish was in the Blackwell sub-district of the Mansfield Registration District.

This village and parish are in Derbyshire's upper Erewash Valley. The parish is 134 miles north of London, just west of the M1, south of Tibshelf, off junction 28. The parish also contains the hamlets of Hillcote and Newton. The parish is bordered on the east by Nottingham's Huthwaite village. The Normanton Brook runs through the parish just south of the village.

Peter BARR has a photograph of The Village Sign on Geo-graph, taken in August, 2013.

Stop by the Community Hall and get a copy of the schedule of forth-coming events. Photo taken in September, 2006 by Nikki MAHADEVAN.

• Geograph
• Flickr

"A parish and pleasant village, 3½ miles N.E. from Alfreton, and in 1851 had 467 inhabitants. The Church, dedicated to St. Werburgh, is a handsome stone edifice. The living is a vicarage; the Rev. Thomas Leeson Cursham, D.C.L., incumbent."
[Ex. Harrison, Harrop & Co.'s Directory & Gazetteer of Derbyshire, 1860]

• Ann ANDREWS provides a transcription of the Blackwell entry from Kelly's Directory of the Counties of Derby, Notts, Leicester and Rutland (1891).

• Mel LOCKIE provides a transcription of the Blackwell by Alfreton entry from Lewis's Topographical Dictionary of England, 1831.

• Ask for a calculation of the distance from Blackwell to another place.

• Although coal mining was the principal source of income for centuries, a great deal of the parish remained in pasturage.
   
• Curious about the history of a colliery? Than read the Description of the Blackwell Colliery Company, 1933.
   
• David BEVIS has a photograph of the Hilcote Arms on Geo-graph, taken in July, 2007. At last report (2010), this historic inn was for sale.
   
• David BEVIS has a photograph of The Blackwell Hotel on Geo-graph, taken in April, 2009.
   

You can see maps centred on OS grid reference SK444584 (Lat/Lon: 53.120933, -1.338017), Blackwell which are provided by:

• OpenStreetMap
• Google Maps
• StreetMap (Current Ordnance Survey maps)
• Bing (was Multimap)
• Old Maps Online
• National Library of Scotland (Old Ordnance Survey maps)
• Vision of Britain (Click "Historical units & statistics" for administrative areas.)
• English Jurisdictions in 1851 (Unfortunately the LDS have removed the facility to enable us to specify a starting location, you will need to search yourself on their map.)
• Magic (Geographic information) (Click + on map if it doesn't show)
• GeoHack (Links to on-line maps and location specific services.)

• All places within the same township/parish shown on an Openstreetmap map.
• Nearby townships/parishes shown on an Openstreetmap map.
• Nearby places shown on an Openstreetmap map.

The Colliery Hospital was built in 1882 by the Blackwell Colliery Company. It had wards for 12 patients.

.

• During World War One, there was a Blackwell Red Cross Hospital here.
   
• David BEVIS has a photograph of the War Memorial and Community Centre in Newton on Geo-graph, taken in October, 2010.
   
• The Traces of War website shows us the parish has 4 Commonwealth War Graves from World War I and 2 from WWII.

There are 4 Commonwealth War Grave from World War I in St. Werburgh's churchyard:

1. W. DICKENS, private, 4th Btn. Sherwood Foresters, died 1 Nov. 1917.
2. Frederic Stanley PEARCE, able seaman, H.M.S. Vivid, RN Vol. Rsrv., died 1 Aug. 1918. Son of George and Elizabeth PEARCE.
3. Cornelius PITT, lance corp., 11th Btn. Sherwood Foresters, age 27, died 3 May 1917. Husband of Mary Jane PITT.
4. W. A. C. SALMOND, Lieut.-Commander, H.M.S. Whirlwind, Royal Navy, age 30, died 20 Mar, 1921. Son of Walter and Mary A. SALMOND of Newton Old Hall, Alfreton.
    

And two for World War II:

1. Jack SLACK, sapper, 59 field co. Royal Engineers, died 1 Feb. 1943.
2. F. W. SMITH, sergeant, RAF, age 21, died 28 Nov. 1943. Son of Thomas and Ethel SMITH, of Newton.

• This place was an ancient parish in Derby county and it became a modern Civil Parish when those were established.
   
• This parish was in the ancient Scarsdale Hundred (or Wapentake).
   
• You may contact the Blackwell Parish Council regarding civic or political matters, but they are NOT staffed to help you with family history searches.
   
• District governance is provided by the Bolsover District Council.
   

• Bastardy cases would be heard in the Alfreton petty session hearings every other Wednesday.
   
• After the Poor Law Amendment Act of 1834, this parish became part of the Mansfield Poor Law Union.

The Blackwell Public Elementary School (mixed) was built in 1873 and enlarged in 1874.

David BEVIS has a photograph of the Blackwell school on Geo-graph, taken in July, 2015.

David BEVIS also has a photograph of the Newton school entrance on Geo-graph, taken in April, 2015.